my boyfriend managed to convince me to go to the flea-market and of course we stumble upon a booth dedicated to selling reptiles, hermit crabs and such. So what do we find 9 hermit crabs in total. 7 crabs stuck in about a 3 gallon sized tank filled with about an inch of water and 2 sponges used for fish tank filters. The other two were kept separately in little kritter boxes being sold for ten dollars each. With recently putting together a 65 gallon from a 20 gallon and only 8 hermit crabs (4 babies) I felt they needed to expand their family. I ended up taking all 9 home. I gave them all salt bath and let them roam. It has been only several hours since they came home and there has been tons of shell changes I have lost track of who is who.

On the way home, we received a call back about 2 hermit crabs up for adoption and within a couple hours we had two more purple pincers to add to the family.

I went from 8 crabs to 19. My family thinks I'm insane but they are all running around exploring and eating a storm.

We are at 16+ shell changes for just today in the last say 5 hours. I had one of the guys try on the large green turbo before he went into a red smaller red turbo.

:wub: hahah everyone thinks i'm crazy but I just adore them so much!! :wub:

[img width=400 height=300]http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/xoxmayexox/IMG_7694.jpg[/img]
This is their feast I fixed up for them the night they got home. Bananas, Carrots, Red Bell Pepper, Almonds, Carrots, Cucumbers, Shrimp and shell, Eggshells and Blood worms (yes I managed to feed them blood worms even though I'm sickly terrified of those things) I placed smaller plates of fresh coconut as well as crushed peanuts on the top level as treats
[img width=400 height=300]http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/xoxmayexox/IMG_7696.jpg[/img]
This is the new fam eating away!
[img width=400 height=300]http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/xoxmayexox/IMG_7697.jpg[/img]
n0m n0m n0m! My new guy who is the largest in the family changed several times and is caught here in a new green turbo.
[img width=300 height=400]http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/xoxmayexox/IMG_7706.jpg[/img]
And their crabitat that I plan on upgrading more an more as I go.
[img width=400 height=300]http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/xoxmayexox/IMG_7735.jpg[/img]
65 Gallon with a 15 Gallon fixed inside as a second for a second level as well as a small plastic tank used to serve their food in more of a contained area (cleaning purposes)
[img width=400 height=300]http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/xoxmayexox/IMG_7735.jpg[/img]
Very hard to get a good pick of the place but this will have to do for now.
[img width=400 height=300]http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/xoxmayexox/IMG_7740.jpg[/img]

These are just some pics for now. When they are done their distressing I'll put up more pictures

let me know what you think! and naming them has become completely impossible. I gave them all names to find them all changing shells as soon as they got home and now I'm totally confused on who was who hahaha.

:madhouse: hahaha the tank is just so unbelievably active now and they eat like crazy!

The tank actually isn't fixed in per say. There are four glasses on the bottom of the tank sitting on top of eco. Each glass is decorated with a really large seashell that we displayed inside each cup then placed the tank on top against the back wall and began to put earth onto it. Worked out a lot easier than I could hope for. Hardest part was just removing the black brackets from the top of the tank since they are sealed with silicon!

I went from a 20 to a 65 gallon and was certain that this would definitely large enough but now that everything is done it just doesn't feel all that big anymore i'm itching to expand yet again but my family is really gonna give it to me then. They already think i'm crazy!

I have crabs ranging from the size of a dim to large. Should I have any concerns? I will be starting up work again this week and once I go back I'm back to a really tight and rough schedule and will have to leave my crabbies alone for about 12 hours at a time probably 6 days a week. I hope this doesn't affect my crabbies. I plan on feeding them when I get home late night and doing their cleaning once a week minus the daily water maintenance. If anyone has any suggestion for best or most efficient ways of keeping tank clean? After 19 crabs I'm thinking after every deep clean I am going to have to replace all the substrate or I will be baking for a long long time sand and EE.

WOW! that's amazing! and good job saving the hermies =] they're telling you they appreciate it!

as far as size, well, it looks like you have enough shells, so i wouldn't worry too much. the bigger guys might pick on the little ones, a dominance thing, but i doubt it will be any more than that. And as long as your tank is controlled with its temp and humidity, your work schedule should work out fine =] good luck! :rockz:

Don't worry about the size differences too much - the biggest worry will be to ensure they get enough meat and calcium so there's no chance of the big guys trying to eat the littler ones. Also, ensure the little ones can climb out of the water bowls.

Beyond that, I know what you mean about not being home much with the crabs. I've got a fairly hectic work schedule too, and there would be days where I was out for 15 or more hours at a time. Never had any problems with the crabs - I'd change their food as soon as I got home, clean up any horrible messes they made in the morning before I left, and they were content. However, I have a fairly automatic system with lights and heating - I have timers that turn on the day and moon glow bulbs, as well as a thermostat to turn on the heating bulb whenever it gets too hot. So that may be something you might want to look into - find a way that your tank can manage itself while you aren't there to check on it.

Isn't that stuff kinda' expensive?
In order to maintain a crabitat, we all have to be penny pinchers. (penny pincher, get it?) I know I wouldn;'t be able to afford any of that nice equipment!
:biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh:

Does anyone else live with you... You could ask ur bf if he could atleast feed them and make sure their humidity and temperature is okay. or if you have children you can bride them into doing believe me it works my mom does it to me :hahahaha:

Isn't that stuff kinda' expensive?
In order to maintain a crabitat, we all have to be penny pinchers. (penny pincher, get it?) I know I wouldn;'t be able to afford any of that nice equipment!
:biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh:

I saved up for it. I give my crabs an 'allowance' every month. If I don't spend the money on stuff for them (like new foods from the Addiction store), at the end of the month it gets added to the next month's stuff. So in a few months, depending on how much you give your crabs (you could ask your parents to consider doing this method as they were the ones who allowed you to get crabs, so instead of you springing large purchases on them all the time, they can give you an allowance only for crab stuff and you'll never ask them for more money for the crabs again) you can save up enough for the stuff I mentioned. I mean, the timer power strip only cost $30 at the pet store, although the thermostat was mucho $$$...

I pretty much have everything I need to keep them steady while I'm gone except for the humidity. I'm having troubles keeping it from sky rocketing to the 90s while I'm away. I've been leaving small cracks between the sheets of glass the cover my tank however I'm worried with that many hours away the humidity will drop way below the suggested range.

Emma how do you maintain your humidity in the tat? I am able to keep my heat consistent but am willing to invest in the timers needed just in case. The humidity however I don't know what I would do to keep it at a normal range.

I just posted in the crab 911 about my baby I just found today with a broken leg and the placement of the wound makes me believe it was because of a crab fight. However I've put up pics of what they get fed. There is a large amount of food in the tank that everyone can eat plenty and still leave tons behind. So the sizes are starting to really concern me. The little guy that was hurt is about the size of a dim or just a little larger.

p.s. I really like your crab allowance idea! everyone has been giving me a little grief about how much i've invested into these little guys.

Right now, I leave cracks. I'd rather the humidity be higher than low, so I don't mind as much that it's in the 80s most days while I'm gone. I keep the ceiling fan on in the room with the crabs to help with air flow. The humidity's lower now that it's chilly in the house and the heat bulb is on all the time. Whenever I'm home, I open the tank up completely so the humidity can drop some (it can be open all day and never go below 70%...gotta love the SE region of the US!). I don't leave it open all night (I had one escape one time; that was stressful as she got chewed on by the friend's dog we were watching that weekend), but in all honesty, my humidity seems destined to stay in the 80s since the switch to EE.